One Year Later: Five Chicago Women Taking Action

One of the strongest narratives to come out of the 2016 election was how important it is for women to make their voices heard, regardless of party alliances. Get to know these five Chicago women who were inspired to get involved—either by organizing or running for office themselves.

Mrinalini Chakraborty - Head of Field Operations and Strategy, Women’s March NetworkFounder and President, Women’s March Illinois

How did you first became involved in activism?

I have been an activist and in the fight for social justice since I was a teenager growing up in Kolkata, India. I entered the world of activism fighting for the rights of sex workers and victims of human trafficking and their children, volunteering for a non-profit doing vital work in one of the most notorious red light districts in India. Fighting for the most marginalized and disenfranchished among us is not just an intangible concept for me, but the foundation and framework for everything I do.

What were the origins of the Women’s March?

The Women’s March is a grassroots, women-led, civil rights movement, that started as a spontaneous groundswell following the 2016 presidential elections. It became the largest coordinated single-day protest in history! We harnessed the power of women and femmes who felt threatened and demonized by the harmful rhetoric of the election cycle, and women and people of color who have been fighting against systemic racism and injustices for decades, to create the foundation of a movement wherein we fight together for our collective liberation.

Dozens of organizers, the majority of them women, rose to the task of organizing their states and cities for local sister marches, and to organize people for the national march in Washington, D.C. (which was the epicenter of the coordinated global protests, comprised of over 700 marches). We organized with the help of social media, technology, countless hours of volunteer work, and strategic planning to make history together.

Can you point to a moment in particular when the movement caught fire?

There were so many! The first would be the sharing of the Facebook event that started it all—it went viral within 24 hours amassing thousands of RSVPs!

What is the current status of the Women’s March movement - Are there plans to have a presence in the lead up to the midterm elections?

The Women’s March has only grown stronger since January 21st, but it may not be in the ways that one might think. Our strength is not just in numbers at a singular moment in history, but in our collective growth as a movement that is sustainable and continues to fight for the rights that we deserve! We have strong leaders in dozens of state and local chapters and our work is to focus on training and supporting them to continue to grow this movement. Women are not only overwhelmingly leading the ‘resistance’ to the Trump administration, but there are more women engaged in local politics and progressive causes, than any other time in recent history. We have organized numerous marches, protests, rallies since January, and have led in the fight to save healthcare, protect immigrant rights, oppose the Muslim Ban, oppose the toxic rhetoric of the NRA and the gun lobby, and more.

Genevieve Thiers - Co-Founder (with Ellie Bahrmasel), NewFounders

What was the inspiration behind the launch of NewFounders?

Post-election, a large number of us with tech, design and political expertise got together in a living room and saw a very simple thing—a broken system. Politics is about 20 years behind in terms of tech, design and usability. While we focus incredible effort on the usability of our phones, sneakers and homes, we focus hardly any effort on making politics easy to interact with. We began to build as a group, and along the way also began to interact with various new groups that developed in response to the election, and all this led to NewFounders. Our mission is to organize new leaders around rebuilding our most critical systems. The new wave of emerging leaders is extraordinary and quite strong, and we have incredible visions of what we’re going to do and build.

The first system we turned our focus to was voting. Too many of us vote only in the Presidential and don’t know about the more critical local elections around us all the time. We raised over 250K over six months, talked to 12 data companies, snapped a few sets together, and built an API and an app and site. The EveryElection app has over 300K elections across the United States, from federal to local, graphed over Google Maps by district. With simple push alerts on your phone, the app tells you when, where and how to vote and includes the very latest information about incumbent, challengers and polling place! Bonus, you upload your address book to see elections near family and friends, and with oneclick email or text them to vote too!

How can organizations like New Founders help sustain the renewed interest in politics?

So I think that most of us are all so scared and worried that we are engaged, but the problem is that there’s a lack of bridges letting people act. There are some amazing groups that have done amazing resistance work, but we need to move past resistance as well into building change. We need to redo our messaging, rebuild our systems, push our new leaders ahead. We all know this. So we are balancing a long-term message with a short-term focus on 2018. We are working on social mapping tests around critical races, while also building tools that will help for 50 years or more. We need to keep this “high-low” focus to really succeed, and not forget that the entire city burnt down while we focus on local issues in front of us.

Explain how NewFounders helps women become more directly involved in politics and possibly run for office themselves?

We have a special focus on this. As we mentioned, one of the questions we are running hard at is how to get the leadership of this country to reflect the diversity of its people. We have a tool called The Bench that we hope to build next year, and it’s jaw-dropping. If we get it right, we might be able to directly control getting our leadership diversity to reflect that of our people over the course of five Presidential elections or so (about 20 years). But this is all hard and costly. We raised over $120K for our EveryElection app. We raised $15K for ChangeMaker. We will need to raise over $800K for The Bench next year to make it work. We’re hard at work talking to powerful donors (especially women!) now and we would love to show you what we can build, and what we see!

Nasty Women Art Chicago on May 5th came about after I submitted artwork and attended the inaugural Nasty Women Exhibition show in Queens, NY in January just a few months earlier. Nasty Women is a global arts movement providing solidarity among artists who resist the threat to roll back women’s rights, individual rights and abortion rights. I came home excited and open to getting a Chicago show together and many people stepped on board to make it all happen. We had 14 main organizers and over 85 volunteers the night of the event; a ton of support from many individuals and a huge group effort.

Why do you think that the term “Nasty Woman” hit such a nerve with so many women?

Trump’s pejorative use of the phrase "nasty woman" during a debate with Hillary Clinton hit a nerve with many as it was an attempt to silence and discredit her voice. It was impactful, especially to those who find her far more qualified and deserving of the office of President. The term was immediately reclaimed and provided a powerful impetus for art-related activism: Nasty Women Art Chicago was just one of over 40 events that took place across the United States and beyond, all independently run and organized.

Nasty Women Art Chicago has evolved into Make Chicago Women. Can you explain the mission of Make Chicago Women?

While Make Chicago Women was formed in the process of organizing and producing Nasty Women Art Chicago, our mission is to empower artists and women to address gender equality and social justice issues in the Chicagoland area through artivism—activism charged with creation and art.

Lauren Underwood - Candidate for Illinois Congress, 14th District

What is your background and how did you make the decision to run for Congress?

I’m a nurse from Naperville. I’ve taken care ofpatients and, through my personal experience with a pre-existing condition,I have seen first hand the importance of high quality, affordable health care. I also bring significant federal experience to this campaign, with a background working to implement the Affordable Care Act: setting up the Marketplaces, issuing the regulations that reformed our private insurance system, andimproving healthcare quality. I also served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as a member of the Obama Administration working on public health emergencies and disasters.

Growing up in the district, I know we are bright and hard-working. So I’m stepping forward to fight for families who know that strong jobs and access to affordable health care will help get our region back on track. I’m running to represent our community in Washington, so that our neighbors will be able to count on their elected official to hear their concerns, fight on their behalf, and have their back.

Why is it important to have more women run for political office?

I come from a long line of strong, powerful, dynamic women who have inspired my approach to leadership. For instance, in 1950s Alabama, my grandmother was a teacher in a small, rural town. She experienced injustice every day, from segregated water fountains and restaurants, to limited professional opportunities at under-resourced “colored-only schools.” Despite threats of violence, my grandmother marched for justice, equality, and for full civil rights with some of the leading voices in the movement.

The women in my family made a lasting impacton their respective communities, but never even considered running for office. Sure, it was a different era, but they had the leadership ability to build coalitions, channel grassroots energy, and present a more inclusive vision for their communities. Imagine the impact over time if our dynamic sisters, mothers, and girlfriends served in elected office at all levels—our country would be in a very different place.

We must step forward and lead, especially at this time when we need to support an economic agenda that helps families grow and thrive in each of our communities. For years, advocates have been working to pass common sense policies like affordable childcare and paid family leave, fighting to protect our access to the full range of reproductive health services, and advancing pay equity, yet this agenda has stalled.

Women are leading in every area of American life—financially supporting our families, starting and scaling businesses, and serving our communities through charities and nonprofits. Data from American University’s Women and Politics Institute shows us that women are equally likely to be elected when we run for office, but we don’t choose to step forward as candidates. As a result we see severe under-representation in Congress—women are 21 percent of the U.S. Senate and about 19 percent of the U.S. House of Representatives, despite being over half of our population. If we want to see progress, these numbers must change.

How did the 2016 election inspire your decision to run for office?

During his farewell speech in Chicago, President Obama said, “It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy…to continually try to improve this great nation of ours because, for all our outward differences, we in fact all share the same proud type, the most important office in a democracy, citizen.” He went on to encourage folks to run for office. We all can do something to make our country more just and fair for everyone, whether it’s writing letters, making calls, marching. I am grateful for the opportunity to run for office.

Who are the women that inspired you?

Oprah Winfrey and Senator Carol Moseley Braun. In the mid-90s, they were the two most powerful black women in the country and they were in Illinois. Both were huge role models and showed me that black women could sit at the decision tables.

Nicole Johnson - Emerging Civic Leader

What is your background and how did you make the decision to run for Alderman?

I am a southside of Chicago Englewood native. I knew that my educational experiences were much different than my peers on my block. While in college, I participated in various student groups that worked towards holding the University administration accountable, to enhance the educational experiences of Black students. As I contemplated my course of study, I wanted to choose a field that would advance my understanding of the world around me, and how we can make it more equitable for disenfranchised communities like mine. My Englewood community had been economically depressed for decades, and my question is this: how can we change that? I believe the aldermanic role is one that can be the deciding factor in economic development, to improve the quality of life for residents. That is why I am running.

Why do you think it is important to have more women run for political office?

Research shows that female lawmakers introduce more bills. This means, they are building relationships with their constituents, have a real pulse on their needs, and show their commitment, by addressing those needs through legislation. Our communities, both urban and rural, are struggling. There is a dire need for leadership that is responsive, adaptive, and proactive, and women can do the job.

Why do you think so many women wait to be asked to run, as opposed to men, who often make the decision to run on their own?

We wait because we want to have the “right” amount of experience, it has to be the “right” time, having the “right” team, etc. Sure, having a good strategy is necessary, but it doesn’t take all day. We want to be “perfect”, but that doesn’t exist for humans. Further, there’s this thing called gender bias, where men are often more affirmed by others than women. And the confidence can take a heavy blow if we internalize that. This is something I’ve dealt with as I engage in my community: men are often taken more seriously than women, even though it’s evident that the woman has more qualifying credentials. But, even still, we must believe in ourselves, and tell ourselves that we are enough, and move forward.